As the first episode of The Girl Before begins, we see a few shots of a strange house and Edward (David Oyelowo) carrying a buck of water. He walks over near the stairs and begins scrubbing the floor while crying. After the intro, we see the home’s smart home panel confirming the Housekeeper house system is active. A realtor shows Emma (Jessica Kate Plummer) and Simon (Ben Hardy) around the house. Although the house isn’t typical, the relator believes it is special. While they explore the house, we quickly see a scene of another woman who looks like Emma touring the house. In the past, Jane (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) looks around. Simon asks the realtor if the house is within their budget. They learn the architect had intended to live in the house himself but rents it out now. The realtor explains that the architect has numerous rules, including no pictures, no ornaments, no carpets, no rugs, no books, and more. Children aren’t allowed and the tenant cannot plant anything in the garden.

In the present, the realtor admits there are roughly 200 rules in total and no light switches since the architect isn’t a fan of them. The house has been empty for a while. Emma asks about the front door being unlocked. The realtor shows her a bracelet that they’ll wear so the home can automatically unlock the door when they arrive. The realtor shows them upstairs as Jane asks about the man who designed the house. He is described as charming and Jane might get to meet him since he interviews potential tenants personally. First, they’ll have to complete a questionnaire. The potential tenants usually receive an email turning them down though. Since three years of working there, the female realtor has never seen anyone get accepted. Simon learns that almost everything in the house is provided including pillows and toiletries.

Jane walks into the bathroom and the shower unexpectedly turns on as we see a scene of Emma looking terrified in the shower. Simon is shown the only cupboard he will have if he gets to move into the house. Nothing can be left on the floor or bed so everything will have to be put away. The rules are in the contract and any infringement of the rules will be reported. Simon doesn’t think the arrangement is going to work for them because they’re messy people although Emma suggests they can change. Emma doesn’t like it when Simon tells the realtor no. As for Jane, she says this place shouldn’t be left empty. She believes the house is waiting for someone. Emma tells the house goodbye as they step outside and leave. Jane begins working on the questionnaire which asks for a list of possessions that are essential to her life. She sits with Mia (Rakhee Thakrar) and they discuss the house and the architect’s rules and questions.

Mia offers to help her redecorate one of her rooms, but Jane isn’t interested. Emma reads the question to Simon. Emma is excited about it and they quickly agree to leave the question blank. The only difference is that Simon has no intention of moving into the house. Emma believes leaving it blank is the best answer. The next question asks whether they’d sacrifice themselves to save ten innocent strangers. She contemplates starting a blog about her minimalist lifestyle and becoming a Princess of Less. Simon doesn’t take her seriously since she hasn’t posted on her other blog in a long time. Jane walks up her stairs and it seems one of the doors opens for her. She looks inside before shutting the door. Next, Simon and Emma head to the interview with the architect. The receptionist shows them inside before Edward offers them coffee. Once they sit down, Edward asks to know why they want to live at One Folgate Street.

Emma says it would be a great opportunity to live somewhere incredible and praises what he has done with the place. She goes on to say it would be a dream to live there and she forces Simon to say the same. There is a brief, awkward pause before Emma admits she thinks the house would change them. She explains she was burgled when Simon was out with his friends. The man had a knife when he broke in. As the receptionist returns with coffee, Emma says One Folgate Street could make her a stronger person so she wouldn’t stand there and let someone like that abuse her again. She immediately spills the coffee and ruins Edward’s most recent draft.

They apologize profusely although Edward says it is okay because he should’ve disposed of that drawing weeks ago. Edward tells Simon he should never apologize for someone you love since it makes them look like a prick. Before they leave, Edward promises to let them know. As Jane waits for her interview, she overhears Edward arguing with a man about his work on a house. Once he leaves, her interview with Edward begins. She asks if he won the argument. He says that was his former partner and they had different approaches. She questions whether it had something to do with Edward’s minimalistic approach. He doesn’t describe himself that way because you’d be surprised what little is left when you remove everything imperfect and unnecessary. Edward begins explaining his houses make demands of people and his technology partner Peter calls it UX or user experience.

The house will collect data about the resident to actively improve the user experience in real-time. As for the questionnaire, he admits they will ask the questions again later to see how they’re changing while living in the house. Edward says the house won’t collect anything that Facebook or Google doesn’t already know about you although she says they don’t follow her into the shower. He calls it the price the tenant pays for living there and they pay with data instead of market rent. While they have a long list of applicants, nobody has moved in because the tenant has to be the perfect fit. As for the reason she wants to live there, Jane says he built a house with integrity so she will try to live there with integrity too. He denies he was going to live in that house and instead wanted to live in a different house on the street that never got built. Peter (Ben Addis) enters to complain about something and interrupts them.

The aide Alyssia (Antonia Clarke) escorts her out. Once they reach the elevator, Jane asks why Edward didn’t build the original house. She learns Folgate Street was meant to be his family house until his wife and son died. His wife was a partner there and they designed it together. Alyssia is surprised he mentioned it since he never does. Meanwhile, Emma talks to a shrink about the burglary. The shrink tells her how the brain can sometimes incorrectly process memories. Previously, she said she felt Simon’s response to the burglary was trying. Simon believes he could’ve beat the guy up and made a citizen’s arrest, but Jane says he would’ve been stabbed. The shrink says men can sometimes have masculinity issues after events like this. Emma explains Simon had that attitude before the burglary though. Emma believes something was her fault although she won’t say what.

Jane meets with Rachel (Lucy Russell) who says she is so sorry to hear about her news before leading them to a private room. They sit down as Jane says she has been thinking of ways to structure the team and possibly conducting a strategy review. Rachel claims they’re happy to have her back. Rachel reveals she has talked to HR and the maternity coverage for Belinda means they can’t just terminate her contract. Then, she reminds Jane that they have generous compassionate leave, but Jane just wants to return to work. Rachel thinks they can find a role for her even if she isn’t working directly with clients. We join Emma at work as she brainstorms with her team. Coworker Saul (Mark Stanley) interrupts to say he loves seeing the geniuses hard at work. As for his mission statement idea, he says to see more water cooler moments happen every day. He turns his attention to Emma who he describes as the best assistant ever.

She returns to her desk and admits to a friend she thought marketing would be more exciting than this. She checks her inbox and gets a surprise email confirming they got the house. Jane and Mia discuss the fact that Belinda still has six months or so left on her contract thanks to the maternity benefit. Jane gets a message confirming she passed the interview and got the house. She can move into the house next week. We watch her move in while Simon and Emma prepare to put some of their stuff into storage to accommodate the new house. Jane arrives, puts on her bracelet, and finds flowers outside. She picks them up and heads inside where she finds a white stone. She sits it down by the bed and puts her clothes up while Emma does the same. Jane removes a box from her suitcase and slides it under the bed. Emma finds Simon listening to music and unpacking their mugs. She learns that the house has a music system that picks songs based on their mood.

That night, Emma gets in bed with Simon who says the house is really cool. He loves it now. They plan what they want to do for Emma’s upcoming birthday. He contemplates going out, but she wants to have a party with a few friends. Simon wonders if that is allowed. She turns away from him before they go to sleep. Jane exercises in the morning and her stomach begins cramping. When she leaves the house, she finds more flowers outside. She sits them inside and leaves. This continues and she gets more and more flowers. She calls Alyssia to ask her to stop sending welcome flowers only to learn Alyssia and Edward haven’t been sending them. The card says, “Emma, I will love you forever”. Once Alyssia hears that, she tells Jane to call the florist directly because it has nothing to do with them. Later, Jane gets a visit from Mia and her friend. While the kids play in another room, Mia asks whether Jane would be a good match for the architect of the house.

Mia tells her about her children. Jane screams at Freddy when he pulls a few leaves from the tree nearby. Charlie is asked to get some toys from the car to keep the kids busy. Jane says it isn’t a garden anyway before admitting she gave the wooden salad spoons away. When Charlie comes back in with toys, he asks about the man outside who was leaving flowers in front of the house. She rushes outside in time to catch Simon. He tells her the flowers aren’t for her and he only keeps replacing them because Jane keeps taking them. It would’ve been Emma’s 30th birthday this week. He confirms that Emma died in the house three years ago. When Jane asks how she died, Simon says it depends on who you ask. When Simon leaves, Jane goes back inside and discusses the news with Mia and Charlie. Later that night, Jane uses her computer to look for information about Emma, but the Housekeeper system prevents her from finding anything. When she uses her phone, she finds what she is looking for.

One article reveals that the coroner in the case ruled the death unexplained. We jump back as Emma comes down the stairs and gets a quick compliment from Simon who is cutting fruit. He slices his finger and questions whether the house likes him. During Emma’s birthday party, Simon tells people about the house and cleans up a spilled drink. As for Emma, she snorts cocaine and dances. When the party ends, the house is a mess and Saul wants to hit the club, but Emma and Simon turn down the offer. Once they head to bed, Simon wants to have sex. Emma isn’t up for it tonight though. He complains that they haven’t had sex since they moved into the house. Emma admits things have changed since someone put a knife in her face.  Simon apologizes and says there is no rush although he thought she felt safe here. Emma says she does, but she isn’t ready yet. He says he loves her. Emma doesn’t say it back to him. We see a fox in the garden that night.

In the morning, they learn the police want to talk to them. Since they’re already outside, Emma and Simon try to clean up the drugs before letting them. DI James Clarke (Ian Conningham) enters with his partner. The detectives explain they’ve found a man matching the description of Emma’s attack. They also found the items that were stolen including Emma’s phone. She is asked about the video on the phone of the man forcing her to perform a sex act on him. This is a surprise for Simon since he never heard about that before. They want to know if she can tell who it was. She nods and begins crying as she says the man had a knife. He took her phone and forced her to do that to him. When she finished, he threatened to send out the video to everyone if she told or went to the police.

James asks if the culprit could’ve left behind any DNA since it could be helpful evidence. Emma doesn’t think so because the man made her get rid of it. James reminds her that any type of forced sex is considered rape in this country and that includes forced oral. They promise to work hard to get a conviction before leaving. When Simon asks why she didn’t tell him, she says she thought he would find it difficult. She was scared and knew Simon would encourage her to tell the police although she didn’t want to. He suggests it says something that she couldn’t tell him something as big as this. Emma gets upset and reminds him this isn’t about him before rushing out of the room. Jane continues researching Emma’s death. She gets a visit from Richard (Marc Ozall) at work. When Belinda joins them, Jane introduces herself and tells Belinda she is her maternity cover.

Belinda takes Richard through leaving Jane standing alone. Edward arrives and apologizes for the flowers and for not telling her about the previous tenant. He claims it was an accident on the stairs and could’ve happened in any house. Before he can leave, she invites him out for a coffee. During their coffee date, Edward learns Jane lost a little girl named Isabel. She thanks him for asking before revealing it was a 39-week stillbirth. Edward talks about his loss and how loss is similar to the most crushing defeat. She agrees that is what it feels like. She wonders whether she didn’t want the girl enough. They’re performing a postmortem investigation to find out what happened. They wouldn’t let her have a C-section so she had to give birth to the baby three days after she passed. The coffees arrive after she begins crying. The waitress calls Edward a bastard believing he is the cause.

When Jane says she is the one doing all the talking, Edward says he likes listening to her. Then, he directly admits he wants to have a relationship with her. He says there is something he needs to explain first. Edward says people are too quick to collect unnecessary things like Valentine’s Day cards and he wants to strip that back. He suggests they can have a relationship for as long as it is perfect and not a minute longer. She likes romantic gestures so he asks if they’re essential to her life. Jane confesses she isn’t ready for a relationship. When Jane returns home, she finds flowers from Edward and a note confirming he liked talking to her. At work, one of Emma’s coworkers tells her she researched the house and found out that two people might’ve died there when the house was being built. Edward was visiting the house with his wife and baby when a wall fell on them. He scrapped the original idea and used the minimalist style that made him famous.

She is shown a picture of his wife and it looks a lot like Emma and Jane. When she returns home, Simon does his best to apologize for being an insensitive jerk before. He gives her a teapot, she apologizes, and they hug. Then, we see that one of the questions on the questionnaire was whether the tenant could be happy with a second-rate partner. When Emma makes out with him, Simon stops and admits he can’t stop thinking about the rape. Emma accuses him of thinking she is damaged goods before calling him insecure and needy. He says it is difficult for him to think about the guy violating her like that. Emma finally says she doesn’t love him enough to stay with him forever. She goes on to say this isn’t what she wants and feels trapped. Simon believes she is just feeling vulnerable because of the assault and the home which is like a pressure cooker.

She suggests otherwise and asks for him to move out. Jane has a glass of wine before standing up as Housekeeper picks out a song for her. She walks around and rubs the walls causing the lights to follow her. Then, she calls Edward and agrees to enter into a relationship with him.

 

The Girl Before Review

The Girl Before may transform into a worthwhile, psychological thriller, but the first episode gives little hope that it’ll be anything other than a dull, uninspired mess. Generally, it is best to wait until all four episodes have been viewed unless reviewing each episode individually. However, it shouldn’t be the viewer’s fault if they can’t stomach more than one or two episodes. It won’t be surprising if viewers give up well before they reach the climax.

There is always a chance it’ll salvage the story over the course of three more episodes and I sincerely hope it does because everything I am watching right now is borderline awful. At this point, The Girl Before has far too much going against it to create a fascinating thriller. The characters, relationships, and entire premise of the show are too unrealistic. There doesn’t seem to be any real chemistry between the characters so it is hard to care about 20 somethings breaking up which is par the course.

The biggest problem though is the paralleled timelines the viewer is being force-fed simultaneously. It is difficult enough to distinguish between the two female leads and the ongoing flashbacks and flashforwards only muddle the story. I think this gimmick has run its course since it is rarely effective. A linear approach could’ve worked just as well if not better here since it would’ve given us time to care about the characters and their relationships.

While I may finish the three remaining episodes, many won’t and I wouldn’t blame them. The opening episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. The Girl Before recaps can be found on Reel Mockery here.